ABC host’s crude on-air crack at Ita Buttrose

ABC’s Gruen host Wil Anderson has raised eyebrows after suggestion a sex toy should be named after network chair Ita Buttrose.

ABC chair Ita Buttrose became the punchline in a crude joke about a sex toy.

In a tasteless turn of events, Ita Buttrose has somehow ended up as the ‘butt’ of a joke during a segment about sex toys on the ABC show Gruen.

Chasing a laugh – which he got – host Wil Anderson fashioned the ABC chairwoman’s name into a that of a proposed sex toy: the ‘Ita Butt Rose’, on last Wednesday’s episode of the show.

The Gruen panel had entered into a penetrating chat about the ins and outs of the marketing of sex toys and the spike in sales that was generated by the Covid lockdown.

Sex sells, especially during a pandemic, it would seem.

The ABC would not comment on whether Wil Anderson’s quip had sparked complaints.

One panellist explained: “During Covid the sales of sex products went up exponentially so you can extrapolate from that that people might be w---ing more than ever”.

Off that back of that comment Anderson quipped: “I’ll be launching an ABC version of this product called the ‘Ita Butt Rose’.”

Thankfully there was no explanation as to how the proposed product might work or where it would fit.

The ribald comment by Anderson drew gasps and guffaws from the panel – they knew it was cheeky.

It is questionable whether it was appropriate to use Buttrose’s name in this conversation; she is after all the chair of the ABC board.

The ABC did not respond to questions asking if any complaints had been received about the episode and if it believed it was acceptable for its board chair to be likened to a sex toy on one of the network’s top rating programs.

Last month the ABC offered counselling to staff after Chris Walker, the executive producer of The Weekly and partner of The Project co-host Carrie Bickmore, stripped naked in front of colleagues after wrongly believing he had logged off on a Skype call.

The nude incident was explained as unintentional and occurred as he was undressing to get into the shower.